Flit-based packetization

ABSTRACT

A flit-based packetization approach is used for transmitting information between electronic components. A protocol stack can generate transaction layer packets from information received from a transmitting device, assemble the transaction layer packets into one or more flits, and protect the flits with a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme. The assembled flits can be transmitted across one or more serial point-to-point interconnects in a link connecting the transmitting device to a receiving device. The protocol stack can protect flit information sent across each point-to-point interconnect with a lane-level interleaved forward error correction (FEC) scheme.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a continuation (and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120) of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/439,582 filed on Jun. 12, 2019, and entitled FLIT-BASED PACKETIZATION, which application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/812,507, filed Mar. 1, 2019. The disclosures of the prior applications are considered part of and hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety in the disclosure of this application.

BACKGROUND

The PCI Express protocol defines various packet types. Two of these are the Data Link Layer Packet (DLLP) and the Transaction Layer Packet (TLP). A DLLP has a fixed length of 8 bytes (8B) and TLPs have a variable length. As transmitted along a link, DLLPs and TLPs comprise three entities: the payload, a cyclic redundancy check added by the data link layer (LCRC), and a physical layer encoding added by the physical layer. For TLPs, in version 5.0 of the PCIe protocol, the payload is of a variable length, the LCRC is 4B, and the physical layer encoding is 4B. Thus, there is a fixed overhead in the transmission of TLPs due to the addition of information added by the data link and physical layers in the PCIe protocol stack. For large TLPs with a large payload, this overhead is relatively small, but for small-payload TLPs, the overhead can be significant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computing system comprising a set of interconnected components.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing system comprising a set of components interconnected via PCIe links.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary pair of protocol stacks implemented in a transmitting-receiving device pair.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary format of a PCIe TLP as transmitted across a link

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flit definition for a x4 PCIe link.

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary flit definitions for x8 and x2 PCIe links.

FIG. 7 shows a table of flit characteristics for exemplary flit definitions for various PCIe link widths.

FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate exemplary flit packet sequences according to various placement rules.

FIG. 9 shows a table of PCIe 5.0 TLP efficiencies.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method of transmitting a flit.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary method of receiving a flit.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device for transmitting and receiving flits.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary processor core that can execute instructions as part of implementing technologies described herein.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary computer-readable non-transitory storage medium.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides technologies that allow for increased packet transmission efficiencies between electronic components connected by PCIe links. The increased efficiencies are possible through assembly of transaction layer packet (TLP) information and data link layer packet (DLLP) information into a “flit”. Flits are sent across one or more lanes of a link, and each flit is protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy code (CRC) scheme. Flit information sent across a single lane is protected by a forward error correction (FEC) scheme implemented on a per-lane basis. The flit-level CRC schemes described herein can provide TLP transmission efficiencies greater than those in current PCIe protocol versions wherein a link CRC (LCRC) is transmitted with TLPs sent across a link. For example, a 284-symbol flit may comprise only eight flit-level CRC symbols to achieve a desired error detection probability against a target bit error rate, which is significantly less than the 56 LCRC symbols that would accompany the 14 TLPs transmitted across a link according to current PCIe protocol requirements. Further efficiencies arise from TLP information not having to be wrapped by physical layer encoding. With flit-based packetization, t is not necessary to wrap each TLP in a flit as TLP locations within a flit are defined by a flit format definition. Although the technologies described herein are discussed in certain embodiments with regards to the PCIe protocol, flit-based packetization can be utilized in other communication protocols.

In the following description, specific details are set forth, but embodiments of the technologies described herein may be practiced without these specific details. Well-known circuits, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail to avoid obscuring an understanding of this description. “An embodiment,” “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” and the like may include features, structures, or characteristics, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular features, structures, or characteristics.

Some embodiments may have some, all, or none of the features described for other embodiments. “First,” “second,” “third,” and the like describe a common object and indicate different instances of like objects are being referred to. Such adjectives do not imply objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally or spatially, or in ranking, or in any other manner “Connected” may indicate elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other and “coupled” may indicate elements co-operate or interact with each other, but they may or may not be in direct physical or electrical contact.

The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “in embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and/or “in various embodiments,” each of which may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein similar or same numbers may be used to designate same or similar parts in different figures. The use of similar or same numbers in different figures does not mean all figures including similar or same numbers constitute a single or same embodiment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computing system comprising a set of interconnected components. System 100 includes processor 110 and memory 120 connected to controller hub 130. Processor 110, as well as any processor described herein, comprises any processing element, such as a microprocessor, a host processor, an embedded processor, a co-processor, processor core, or other processor. Processor 110 is connected to controller hub 130 by connection 134. In one embodiment, connection 134 is a serial point-to-point interconnect. In another embodiment, connection 134 includes a serial differential interconnect architecture that is compliant with different interconnect standards.

Controller hub 130 is connected to switch 140 by connection 138. Switch 140 is connected to devices 160-162 by connections 150-152. In some embodiments, connections 138, 150-152 are serial point-to-point interconnections. In some embodiments, connections 138, 150-152 are links that conforms to the PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) standard. A PCI Express (PCIe) link is a serial point-to-point communication channel that allows ports at the ends of the link (e.g., ports 170 and 172 connected to link 138) to send and receive information. At the physical level, a PCIe link (hereinafter “link”) is comprised of one or more lanes. A lane comprises two differential wire pairs, one receiving pair and one transmitting pair. Thus, one lane comprises four wires. A “x4” link has four lanes (16 wires), a “x16” link has 16 lanes (64 wires), a “x32” link has 32 lanes (128 wires), etc.

Memory 120 includes any memory device, such as random-access memory (RAM), non-volatile memory (including chalcogenide-based phase-change non-volatile memories), or other memory accessible by devices in system 100. Memory 120 is coupled to controller hub 130 through memory interface 156. Memory interface 156 can be a double-data rate (DDR) memory interface, a quad data rate (QDR) memory interface, dual-channel DDR memory interface, and a dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory interface or any other memory interface.

In one embodiment, controller hub 130 is a PCIe root complex. In other embodiments, the controller hub 130 can comprise a chipset, a platform controller hub (PCH), memory controller hub (MCH), a northbridge, an interconnect controller hub (ICH) a southbridge, or a root controller/hub. The term chipset can refer to two or more physically separate controller hubs, such as a memory controller hub (MCH) coupled to an interconnect controller hub (ICH) in a two-controller-hub chipset configuration. In some embodiments, the controller hub 130 can be part of the processor 110. In other embodiments, a portion or all the controller hub 130 functionality can be integrated in processor 110.

Input/output ports that provide communication between components shown in FIG. 1, can implement a protocol stack to provide communication between components. For example, ports 170 and 172 allow communication between controller hub 130 and switch 140 via connection 138. Switch 140 routes messages from devices 160-162 upstream, i.e., up the interconnection hierarchy towards controller hub 130, and downstream, i.e., down the hierarchy away from the controller hub 130 to devices 160-162. As such, ports 172, 176, 180, and 184 and can be referred to as upstream ports and ports 170, 174, 178, and 182 can be referred to as downstream ports. As shown in FIG. 1, controller hub 130 does not need to communicate through a switch to communicate to downstream devices (e.g., devices 160-162). Controller hub 130 need not connect downstream devices via a switch. Controller hub 130 can directly connect to downstream devices, as shown by its connection to device 163 by connection 153, enabled by ports 186 and 188.

Devices 160-163 can comprise any internal or external device or component included in or coupled to a computing system, such as an I/O device, a Network Interface Controller (NIC), a graphics card, any other type of add-in card, an audio processor, a network processor, a hard-drive, a solid-state drive (SSD), a flash memory device, other storage device, a CD/DVD ROM, a monitor, a printer, a mouse, a keyboard, a router, a portable storage device, a Firewire device, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device, a scanner, and other input/output devices.

In embodiments where connections 150-153 are PCIe links, devices 160-163 are referred to as PCIe endpoints. PCIe endpoint devices are often classified as legacy, PCIe, or root complex integrated endpoints. Further, a PCIe link can include one or more extension devices (e.g., 199), such as retimes or repeaters.

The term “device” can refer to any of the components in system 100 as well as any other device. Thus, a device can refer to a processor, controller hub, root complex, switch, endpoint, peripheral card, I/O device, etc.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing system comprising a set of components interconnected via PCIe links. System 200 comprises a processor 210 that includes PCIe root complex functionality. Processor 210 is connected to PCI endpoints 220 and 230 via links 224 and 234, respectively. PCI endpoint 220 is an NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) SSD and PCIe endpoint 230 is a graphic processing unit (GPU) or a graphics card. Processor 210 is also connected to PCIe switch 240. Switch 240 is connected to PCIe endpoints 250-252 via links 260-262. Switch 240 is further connected to PCI/PCI-X bridge 270 (Peripheral Connection Interface/Peripheral Connection Extended Interface) via link 274 bridge to support PCI devices 280. Upstream and downstream PCIe ports are shown in FIG. 2 as filled and unfilled squares, respectively.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary pair of protocol stacks implemented in a transmitting-receiving device pair. Protocol stacks 300 and 304 can be any kind of protocol or network stack, such as a PCIe stack. Although references are made herein to a PCIe stack, the same concepts may be applied to other protocol or network stacks. In one embodiment, protocol stack 300 is a PCIe protocol stack comprising transaction layer 310, data link layer 320, and physical layer 330. A communication port, such as ports 170, 172, 174, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188 in FIG. 1, may be referred to as a module, circuitry, interface, or port implementing or including protocol stack 300 or any other protocol stack. Thus, in one embodiment, a protocol stack can comprise a transaction layer module, a data link layer module and a physical layer module. Such a protocol stack can also be considered as comprising transaction layer circuitry, data link layer circuitry, and physical layer circuitry. When referencing the protocol stack as a whole, a protocol stack can be referred to as protocol stack circuitry or protocol stack module.

PCI Express uses packets to communicate information between a root complex, switches, and endpoints. For example, information to be sent from transmitting device 340 to receiving device 350 is sent from processor 360 (or any other processing device of transmitting device 340) to protocol stack 300. Transaction layer 310 packets to carry the information to be delivered from processor 360 of transmitting device 340 to processor 394 of receiving device 350. As the packets that are formed at transaction layer 310 move down the protocol stack to data link layer 320 and then to physical layer 330, they are extended with information to handle packets at those layers. Physical layer 330 of transmitting device 340 transmits packets over link 354 to physical layer 370 of receiving device 350. There, the reverse process occurs, and the information added to the packets as they moved down protocol stack 300 are stripped as they move up protocol stack 304. Transaction layer 390 of protocol stack 374 delivers the payload of the packets sent from transmitting device 340 to processor 394 of receiving device 350, thus resulting a message being sent from transmission device 340 to receiving device 350.

In one embodiment, transaction layer 310 provides an interface for processor 360 to PCIe protocol stock 300. Transaction layer 310 is responsible for the assembly and disassembly of transaction layer packets (TLPs) that deliver information between devices. Upon receipt of information from processor 360, transaction layer 310 assembles one or more TLP packets that will deliver the information to receiving device 350. TLP packet 342 is one embodiment of a TLP packet. TLP packet 342 comprises TLP header 344 and payload 346. Additional information can be included in a TLP packet, such as an end-to-end cyclic redundancy code (ECRC), an error-detection code that a PCIe transaction layer can calculate for a TLP packet.

Data link layer 320 acts as an intermediate stage between transaction layer 310 and physical layer 330. In one embodiment, one responsibility of data link layer 320 is to provide a reliable mechanism for exchanging Transaction Layer Packets (TLPs) between devices across a link. In one embodiment, the reliability mechanism is implemented in part by determining a packet sequence number for a TLP packet and calculating a link CRC (LCRC) value based on the contents of the TLP packet and the packet's sequence number. Data link layer 320 appends information 352 to the head of TLP packet 342 that includes the packet sequence number and appends LCRC value 356 to the tail of TLP packet 342. Data link layer 320 submits TLP 342 with appended information to physical layer 360 for transmission across link 354 to receiving device 350.

In one embodiment, physical layer 330 includes logical sub-layer 332 and electrical sub-layer 334 to physically transmit a packet to an external device. Here, logical sub-layer 332 is responsible for the “digital” functions of physical layer 330. In this regard, the logical sub-layer includes a transmit section to prepare outgoing information for transmission by physical sub-layer 334, and a receive section to identify and prepare received information before passing it to data link layer 320. Logical sub-layer 334 frames the appended TLP packet with start transaction packet (STP) field 366 to generate an as-transmitted TLP 368 that is transmitted across link 354. The STP field 366 comprises sequence number 352, frame CRC bits, the length of the TLP, and other information.

As used herein, the term “transaction layer packet” refers to TLPs generated by transaction layer 310 and comprises TLP header and payload information. The terms “transaction layer packet information” and “transaction layer packet data” can refer to either the TLP header, the TLP payload, or both. As used herein, the term “transaction layer packet” does not include information added to a TLP, such as sequence number, LCRC, or framing data added by the data link and physical layers, unless expressly stated. Similarly, the term “data link layer packet” refers to data link layer packets that do not contain framing data added by a physical layer, unless expressly stated.

Electrical sub-layer 334 includes transmitter 336 and receiver 338. Transmitter 336 is supplied symbols by logical sub-layer 332, which transmitter 336 serializes and transmits to receiving device 350 across link 354. Receiver 338 is supplied with received serialized symbols sent across link 354 by receiving device 350 and transforms the received signals into a bitstream. The bitstream is deserialized and supplied to logical sub-layer 332. In one embodiment, packets are transmitted across link 354 using an 8b/10b data encoding scheme, wherein eight bits of data are transmitted as ten-bit symbols.

Although transaction layer 310, data link layer 320, and physical layer 330 are discussed in reference to an embodiment of a PCIe protocol stack, a protocol stack is not so limited. In other embodiments, protocol stack 300 can have different layers and/or fewer or more layers than those shown. Further, in other embodiments, the separate layers shown in FIG. 3 can be combined into a single layer, and a single layer as shown in FIG. 3 can be split into multiple layers. Any of the layers in the protocol stack shown in FIG. 3 can be implemented as part of the operating system of a computing device, one or more software applications independent of the operating system, or operate at another software layer. The layers shown in FIG. 3 can be implemented in software, hardware, firmware or combinations thereof and can be alternately referred to as modules or circuitry (e.g., “data link layer module,” “physical layer circuitry”) or a combination thereof. A computer device referred to as being programmed to perform a method can be programmed to perform the method via software, hardware, firmware or combinations thereof.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary format of a PCIe TLP as transmitted across a link. TLP 400 comprises TLP header 410 and TLP payload 420, LCRC 440, and STP 430. In one embodiment, TLP header 410 can be 16 or 20 bytes (16/20B), TLP payload 420 can be 0-4,096 bytes (0-4 KB), STP 430 is four bytes (4B), and LCRC 440 is four bytes (4B).

For the TLP packet format shown in FIG. 4, the overhead per TLP comprises 8B, or 2 double words (2DW), where one double word is four bytes (1DW=4B). Because the TLP packet format allows for payloads of varying widths, the TLP transmission efficiency is also variable. For TLPs carrying a large payload, the overhead is relatively small, and the efficiency is high, but for TLP packets carrying little or no payload, the overhead can be expensive. For example, a TLP with a 4DW header and carrying no payload is 6DW in length, yielding a transmission efficiency of 67% (or, data link layer and physical layer encoding overhead of 33%).

The data link layer packet (DLLP) is a second PCI Express packet type. In current versions of the PCIe protocol, a DLLP can be 8 bytes (8B), as transmitted along a link. A DLLP packet can be, for example, an ACK packet, which acknowledges that a transmitted TLP has been successfully received, a NACK packet, which indicates that a TLP arrived corrupted at the receiver (or did not arrive at all), and flow control DLLPs that are used as part of the data link layer's credit-based flow control mechanism. A third packet type is the idle packet (IDL), which is one DW in length, and is transmitted on an active link when no message is to be sent. In addition to transmission inefficiencies due to link CRC and physical layer encoding overhead, other transmission inefficiencies can exist. For example, periodic DLLP updates can consume link bandwidth. In some PCI Express embodiments, periodic DLLP updates can consume 2-5% of link bandwidth. Further details of PCIe packet formats in various PCIe protocol version can be found at the PCI-SIG website.

In some embodiments, additional error correction beyond LCRCs and ECRCs may be employed to achieve a desired BER. For example, forward error correction (FEC) may be applied on a per-lane basis to achieve a desired BER in protocol stacks comprising various techniques for achieving high-speed digital links, such as PAM-4 (pulse amplitude modulation) multi-level signaling or other techniques for achieving high-speed digital links. PAM-4 signaling with FEC may be used to achieve an acceptable range of BER while running at 64 GT/s, the planned speed for version 6.0 of the PCIe protocol. FEC schemes may be employed to In an FEC scheme, n bits of data transmitted on a lane has k bits of information and (n-k) error correction code bits. Accordingly, n bits are to be received and checked before a TLP can be passed to the data link layer and verified using the TLP's LCRC codes. The inclusion of FEC at the lane level consumes additional link band width due to the inclusion of the k FEC check bits. Additional latency arises from the store-and-forward latency resulting from the implementation of FEC at the receiver.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary flit definition for a x4 PCIe link. A flit comprises one or more TLPs and DLLPs protected by a flit-level CRC scheme and a per-lane FEC scheme. Flit 500 comprises transaction layer packet symbols 510, data link layer packet symbols 520, flit-level CRC code symbols 530, and FEC symbols 540. Flit 500 comprises 324 total symbols. In some embodiments, a symbol can be 1DW in length, but a symbol can be different lengths in other embodiments. The 324 symbols in flit 500 comprise 288 symbols carrying transaction layer packet information (TL0-TL287), 4 symbols carrying data link layer packet information (DLL0-3), 8 flit-level CRC symbols (CRC0-7), and 24 FEC symbols (12 check symbols (C) and 12 parity symbols (P)). Eight CRC symbols are used to ensure that multiple TL/DPP symbol errors are covered adequately. Information from a single TLP can span multiple TL symbols in a flit. For example, if a symbol is 1DW long, flit 550 would need 8 TL symbols to store a TLP that is 8DWs in length.

Flit 500 is are transmitted across lanes 550 (L0-L3). That is, a different portion of flit 500 is sent across each of the four lanes. FIG. 5 shows successive TL, DLL, and CRC symbols being transmitted along adjacent lanes, but in other embodiments, symbols could be apportioned among lanes in differing fashions.

Flit 500 can have a flit sequence number, which may be specified explicitly, implicitly, or opportunistically. If specified explicitly, the flit sequence number can be coded, for example, in reserved bits in the flit. If specified implicitly, the flit sequence number may not be sent across the link and a receiver can determine the flit packet number in another fashion, such as, for example, by counting flits as they are received. If specified opportunistically, the flit sequence number can be sent, for example, as payload in a DLLP packet that is sent in full or in part as part of a flit. In one example of flit sequence numbers being sent implicitly, the CRC can include the flit sequence number as, for example, consecutive bits in the CRC code during CRC computation. Accordingly, any dropped or replayed flits could be detected at a receiving end.

In flit 500, four one-byte symbols (DLL0-3) are allocated for one DLLP. In other embodiments, information from multiple DLLPs can be carried in a single flit. In still other embodiments, a DLLP can be constructed over consecutive flits. For example, in a flit format that allocates five DLLP bytes, four DLLP bytes can carry one DLLP and the fifth DLLP byte from four consecutive flits can contribute to an additional DLLP.

The flit-level CRC code protects the flit contents minus the FEC check and parity symbols. For example, the flit-level CRC codes in symbols CRC0-7 in flit 500 protect the TL, DLL and CRC symbols in flit 500. The per-lane FEC scheme protects all symbols within a flit that are transmitted across one lane. For example, the six FEC check and parity symbols to be transmitted along one of the lanes L0-L3 protect the 81 symbols (324 flit symbols/4 lanes) transmitted along that lane. The FEC scheme further employs interleaving. The FEC scheme employed in flit 500 uses three-way interleaving, as represented by the shading of each symbol. For example, check and parity symbols 560, shown with no shading, protect the symbols transmitted along lane L3 that are also shown with no shading (TL3, TL7, TL11 . . . TL287, CRC3, CRC7, check/parity symbols 560). Thus, in the FEC scheme illustrated in FIG. 5, two FEC symbols—one check symbol and one parity symbol—are used to protect 27 flit symbols (81 symbols transmitted along lane L3/3-way interleaving). In other embodiments, alternative interleaving schemes (2-way, 4-way, etc.), as FEC schemes with more of fewer check and parity bits per lane can be used to achieve a desirable bit error rate.

Different flit definitions can be used for different link widths. FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary flit definitions for x8 and x2 PCIe links. Flit 600 defines a 648-symbol flit format for a PCIe x8 link. Flit 600 comprises 600 symbols containing transaction layer packet data (TL0-TL587), 4 symbols containing data link layer packet data (DLL0-3), 8 flit-level CRC symbols (CRC0-7), and 48 FEC symbols (24 check symbols and 24 parity symbols). The 648 symbols are transmitted across eight lanes (L0-L7). As in flit 500, the six FEC check and parity symbols transmitted in a lane protect 81 symbols (648 symbols/8 lanes) using 3-way interleaving, with each pair of FEC check and parity symbols protecting 27 symbols (81 symbols/3-way interleaving).

Flit 650 is a 324-symbol flit definition for a PCIe x2 link. Flit 650 comprises 300 symbols carrying transaction layer packet information (TL0-TL299), 4 symbols carrying data link layer packet information (DLL0-3), eight CRC symbols (CRC0-7), and 12 FEC symbols (6 check symbols and 6 parity symbols). The 324 symbols are transmitted across two lanes (L0-L1). The six FEC check and parity symbols transmitted in each lane protect 162 symbols (324 symbols/2 lanes) using three-way interleaving, with each pair of FEC check and parity symbols protecting 54 symbols (162 symbols/3-way interleaving).

Flits 500, 600 and 650 show exemplary flit definitions for particular PCIe link widths. Other flit definitions are possible for a particular PCIe link. The number of TL and/or DLL symbols can vary from one flit definition to another, as can the number flit-level CRC symbols used to protect a flit, the number of FEC symbols used to protect a lane, and the degree of interleaving used for the FEC scheme. Increasing the number of flit-level CRC symbols and/or the FEC symbols used can reduce BER, but at the cost of increased overhead, and thus, efficiency.

In some embodiments, the flit definition for a particular link can be defined, determined, or supplied by an operating system or BIOS during system start-up. The flit definition for a link can be stored in software or firmware local to the system, be encoded in hardware, or stored remotely and accessed during system start-up. The flit definition for a particular link need not be static and can vary during system operation. For example, the physical layer, protocol stack, or operating system can receive an updated flit definition for a particular link and the link can begin using the updated flit definition at some point after receiving the updated flit definition. An updated flit definition can be provided in response to various events. For example, a physical layer can monitor link performance and signal to the protocol stack or operating system that the BER of the link is too high, and the system can switch to a flit definition that has a flit-level CRC scheme with more CRC bytes, a FEC scheme that has more check and parity bits per lane, or a combination of both. In another example, the system can determine that greater information throughput is possible while keeping the BER at an acceptable level and a flit definition providing greater transmission efficiency can be used. Greater efficiency can be obtained in an updated flit definition by increasing the number of TLP/DLLP packet symbols in the flit, or by reducing the number of flit-level CRC symbols and/or the number of FEC check/parity symbols.

Referring to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, a protocol stack implementing flit-based packetization can have the same configuration as protocol stack 300. That is, a protocol stack implementing flit-based packetization can comprise a transaction layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer. The transaction layer can generate TLPs based on information received from a processing core and pass the TLPs to a data link layer that places TLP and DLLP information into a flit and calculates flit-level CRC codes for placement in the flit. As discussed below, TLP and DLLP information may be placed in a flit based on placement or packing rules. A filled flit does not mean that every symbol reserved for TLP or DLLP information has TLP/DLLP header or payload information in it. A filled flit can contain NULL TLPs or IDLE symbols. A physical layer can calculate FEC check and parity symbols for flit symbols to be transmitted across a lane, add the FEC symbols to the flit, and send the completed flit across the link.

In other embodiments, flit assembly and disassembly tasks can be apportioned differently to the data link layer and physical layers. For example, the physical layer can calculate the flit-level CRCs along with the per-lane FECs. In another embodiment, the data link layer and physical layers can be combined, and flit assembly and disassembly tasks are performed by a single layer. Other arrangements are possible.

FIG. 7 shows a table of flit characteristics for exemplary flit definitions for various PCIe link widths. Table 700 shows flit characteristics for flits 500, 600, and 650 for x4, x8 and x2 links, respectively, and flit characteristics for possible flit definitions for x1 and x16 links. The FEC latencies shown are approximate latency times at transfer speeds proposed for PCIe Gen 6. The narrower links (x1, x2) have higher FEC latency to derive better efficiency by amortizing the fixed overhead (flit-level CRC symbols and data link layer packet information) as shown. Flit definitions having characteristics different than those shown in Table 1 can be used for varying link widths. Different flit sizes for a given link width can be selected to trade-off latency for efficiency.

Flit-based packetization can provide at least the following advantages. First, flit-based packetization removes the need for a LCRC to be attached to each TLP since the flit is protected by a CRC scheme at the flit level. Flit 500 in FIG. 5 comprises TLP data from 288 TLPs and only eight flit-level CRC symbols. If sent across a link using current PCIe protocols, those 288 TLPs would be accompanied by 288 LCRCs. In other words, a flit does not contain a CRC sent along with each TLP included in the flit. With flit-based packetization, link layer retry happens at the flit level. In one embodiment, a failed flit can be retried with a receiver storing successfully transmitted flits received at the receiver after the corrupted or missing flit. In some embodiments, a transmitter can be informed that a transmitted flit was not successfully received through receipt of a NAK DLLP containing the sequence number of the flit to be resent. In some embodiments, a retried flit can indicate that it is being resent via a “retry flit” encoding in the corresponding DLLP along with the sequence number of the retried flit.

Second, flit-based packetization allows for the adoption of guaranteed DLLP frequency policies. In one embodiment, upon transmission of a flit, the transmitter is to receive a DLLP acknowledgment packet indicating that the flit was received no later than n flits after being sent. In another embodiment, a receiver is to send a DLLP packet providing credit updates to the transmitter no later than m flits after accruing x number of credits. Such policies can reduce storage overhead at the receiver relative to current receiver storage needs, which account for current PCIe DLLP scheduling policies and having to handle such situations as sending an ACK or NACK DLLP behind a maximum payload size TLP.

Third, since flit definitions provide guaranteed positions for DLLPs in a flit, the 2-5% variable bandwidth loss due to DLLP scheduling is exchanged for a fixed bandwidth reduction for a given flit definition. For example, in the x4 flit definition of flit 500, the bandwidth reduction due to DLLP overhead is only 1.2% (1/81).

Fourth, the bandwidth loss due to the addition of framing information added by the physical layer (i.e., start frame 366 in FIG. 3) to each TLP is eliminated since transaction layer packet information is in fixed locations in the flit and flit boundaries are known. That is, physical layer framing information is not added to a TLP for every TLP transmitted as part of a flit.

Fifth, because a particular flit format has a defined length, the synchronization header that is periodically sent in current PCIe protocols can be replaced by a periodic ordered set (OS), such as a SKP OS (Skip Ordered Set), EIOS (Electrical Idle Ordered Set), or EIEOS (Electrical Idle Exit Ordered Set). In one embodiment, a periodic OS can be sent every 72 flits for flits that are 10.25 ns long where there is a 600-ppm clock spread. Replacing the synchronization header with a periodic OS can reclaim at least a portion of the bandwidth consumed through use of a synchronization header. In current PCIe protocol formats, synchronization headers consume approximately 1.5% of bandwidth.

FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate exemplary flit packet sequences according to various placement rules. A flit definition defines which slots in the flit may be occupied by TLP or DLLP information, but, in some embodiments, placement or packing rules are used to determine where TLP or DLLP information for individual TLPs/DLLPs to be sent in a flit. FIGS. 8A-8C show a sequence of 48 flit packets transmitted across a link. The packets are sent in order from left to right in each row, with the first row being sent first and the third row being sent last. Each column is 1DW wide and each set of four columns is 4DW wide.

FIG. 8A illustrates TLPs placed in a flit according to the rule that only TLP header information or TLP payload (data) information can reside in each aligned 4DW set. Starting with the upper left-most packet, the first two 4DW sets contain header information 802 (h0-h3) and payload information 804 (d0-d3) of a first TLP. The next two 4DW sets contain NULL TLPs 806 and 808. The first 4DW set in the second row contains header information 810 (h0-h2) for a second header-only TLP. Because the header of this second TLP is only 3DWs wide, the fourth DW set is filled with an IDL packet. idle packets can be used to fill in 4DW sets where the header or payload information for a packet is less than four DWs in length. Continuing along the second row, the second and third 4DW sets contain header information 812 (h0-h2) and payload information 814 (d0) for a third TLP. Because the header and payload information for this third TLP is less than 4DWs, the second and third 4DW sets are filled with IDL packets. The fourth 4DW set in the second row is filled with header information 816 (DWs h0-h2) for a fourth TLP, and an idle packet. The payload 818 (d0-d1) for the fourth TLP is placed in the first two DWs of the third row, followed by two idle packets. The remaining three 4DW sets in the third row comprise header information 820 (h0-h2) for a fifth TLP, and header information 822 (h0-h3) and payload information 824 (d0-d3) for a sixth TLP. In sum, six TLPs are packed into the 48 DWs illustrated in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8B illustrates TLPs and DLLPs placed in a flit according to the rule that each aligned 4DW can contain header and data information from one TLP, with DLLPs placed opportunistically. Starting with the upper left-most packet of FIG. 8B, the first two 4DW sets contain header information 842 (h0-h3) and payload information 844 (d0-d3) of a first TLP. The third 4DW set contains NULL TLP 846 and the fourth 4DW set contains a first DLLP 848 followed by three IDL packets. Moving to the second row, the first 4DW set contains header information 850 (h0-h2) for a second TLP, followed by an IDL packet. The second DW contains header information 852 (h0-h2) and payload information 853 (d0) for a third TLP. The first three DWs in the third 4DW set in the second row is filled with header information 854 (h0-h2) for a fourth TLP and an opportunistically placed second DLLP 855. The fourth DW set in the second row contains payload information 856 (d0-d1) for the fourth TLP, with the last two DWs of containing idle packets. Continuing to the last row, the first 4DW set contains header information 860 (h0-h1) for a fifth TLP and an idle packet. The second and third 4DW sets contain header information 862 (h0-h2) and payload information 864 (d0-d3) for a sixth TLP. The last 4DW set comprises header information 866 (h0-h2) and payload information 867 (d0) for a seventh TLP. The first six TLPs placed in FIG. 8B are the same TLPs placed in FIG. 8A. The looser packing rules associated with FIG. 8B allow for a seventh TLP and two DLLPs to be additionally placed in the same 48 DWs.

FIG. 8C illustrates TLPs and DLLPs placed in a flit according to the rule that TLP header and payload information can be placed at any DW boundary, with opportunistic DLLP placement. Placing the same 7 TLPs and 2 DLLPs that were placed in FIG. 8B, the first TLP and the first DLLP are placed in the first row of FIG. 8C in the same manner as they were in FIG. 8B. Moving to the second row, the first 4DW set contains information from the second and third TLPs: header 890 (h0-h2) from the second TLP and the first DW (h0) of header information 891 (h0-h2) of the third TLP. The remaining header information (h1-h2) of the third TLP is placed in the first two DWs of the second 4DW set. Header information 893 (h0-h2) for a fourth DLP is containing in the last DW of the second 4DW set and the first two DWs of the third 4DW set. The payload information 894 (d0-d1) of the fourth TLP is placed in the second half of the third 4DW set. The last 4DW set of the second row contains header information 895 (h0-h2) of the fifth TLP. The header information 896 (h0-h3) of the sixth DLP fills the last DW of the second row and continues into the first three DWs of the first 4DW set of the third row. The payload information 897 (d0-d3) of the sixth TLP fills the last DW of the first 4DW set in the third row and the first three DWs of the second 4DW set. The remainder of the last row is filled with the header information 898 (h0-h2) and payload information 899 (d0) of the seventh TLP, a second DLLP 881 and header information 883 (h0-h2) of an eighth TLP. Allowing TLP header and payload data to be placed in any DW allows for the seven TLPs and 2 DLLPs placed in FIG. 8B to be placed more compactly—they fit in five fewer DWs and allow for placement of an eighth TLP.

FIG. 9 shows a table of PCIe 5.0 TLP efficiencies. Table 2 shows how TLP efficiency under most current version of the PCIe protocol (version 5.0, released May 29, 2019) varies with transaction size, yielding efficiencies above 90% for large payloads but dropping down to 62.7% for header-only transactions. These efficiencies are the same regardless of link width. Table 700 in FIG. 7 shows flit-based packetization achieving TLP efficiencies ranging from 88.9%-94.4% across link widths, a relatively uniform efficiency as compared to the range of TLP efficiencies in PCIe 5.0 across transaction sizes.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method of transmitting a flit. The method 1000 can be performed by, for example, a PCIe root complex connected to a graphics card via a x4 PCIe link. At 1010, information is received from a processor. In the example, the root complex PCIe protocol stack receives a message to be sent to the graphics card from a root complex processor. At 1020, transaction layer packets are generated based on the received information. In the example, the root complex PCIe protocol stack generates TLPs based on the message to be sent to the graphics card. At 1030, flits comprising the TLPs are generated. The flits comprise the transaction layer packets and are each protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme. In the example, the root complex PCIe protocol stack generates one or more 324-symbol flits containing the TLPs to be sent to the graphics card. The protocol stack protects each flit with eight flit-level CRC codes based on the contents of TLP. At 1040, the flits are transmitted across the lanes of a link to a receiver. In the example, the root complex transmits the flit across the four lanes of the x4 PCIe link to the graphics card. The 324-symbol flit is broken into four streams of 81 symbols and each stream is transmitted along one of the lanes of the x4 PCIe link.

Method 1000 can optionally include additional steps. For example, the flit-level CRC codes can be transmitted across the one or lanes. In the example, the root complex transmits the eight flit-level CRC codes across the four lanes, two per lane. In another example, each flit is protected with a forward error correction (FEC) scheme applied on a per-lane basis. In the example, the root complex PCIe protocol stack determines which symbols of the 324-symbol flits will be transmitted across each lane, calculates FEC check and parity codes based on the symbols to be transmitted along each lane, and transmits the generated FEC codes across the appropriate lane.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary method of receiving a flit. The method 1100 can be performed by, for example, a network interface card (NIC). At 1110 flits are received over the lanes of a link. The flits comprise transaction layer packets and flit-level CRC codes. In the example, the NIC receives a 648-symbol flit comprising 300 TLPs over the x8 PCIe link from a root complex. At 1120, it is determined whether the flit has been successively received based on the TLPs and the flit-level CRC codes in the flit. In the example, the NIC determines whether the flit has been successively received based on the 300 TLPs and the eight flit-level CRC symbols in the received flit. At 1130, if the flit has been successively received, the information contained in the TLPs is sent to a processor. In the example, the payload contained in the TLPs of the successively-received flit is sent to the NIC processor.

Method 1100 can optionally include additional steps. For example, the received flit can comprise forward error check (FEC) information received at each of the one or more lanes. In the example, the flit received at the NIC comprises FEC information or codes, three check symbols and three parity symbols, received at each of the eight lanes of the x8 link. In another example, a portion of the flit is received at each lane and determining whether the flit has been successfully received further comprises performing, for each lane, an FEC the portion of the flit and the FEC codes received at the lane. In the example, 81 flit symbols and 6 FEC symbols are received at each of the eight lanes. The NIC performs eight FEC checks, one at lane, on the 81 flit symbols received at each lane using the 6 FEC symbols received at each lane. The NIC determines that the flit has not been received successfully if any of the eight lane-based FEC checks fails.

In another example, an acknowledgment is sent to the transmitting device before the receiver device receives a pre-determined number of flits after receipt of a flit. In the example, the NIC is programmed to send a flit acknowledgment message to the root complex that the 624-symbol flit has been received before the next, for example, 16 flits are received. In another example, credits are accrued upon determining that a received flit and successive flits have been successfully transmitted, determining that a threshold number of credits have been accrued, and sending credit updates to the transmitting device before a pre-determined number of flits have been received after a pre-determined number of credits have been accrued. In the example, the NIC accrues credits for the received flit and successfully-received flit. After the NIC accrues a set of number of credits, the NIC sends credit updates within the receipt of, for example, 8 flits after the set of number of credits have been accrued at the NIC.

The technologies, techniques and embodiments described herein can be performed by any of a variety of computing devices, including mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, media players, portable gaming consoles, cameras and video recorders), non-mobile devices (e.g., desktop computers, servers, stationary gaming consoles, set-top boxes, smart televisions) and embedded devices (e.g., devices incorporated into a vehicle, home, or place of business). As used herein, the term “computing devices” includes computing systems and includes devices comprising multiple discrete physical components.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device for transmitting and receiving flits. Generally, components shown in FIG. 12 can communicate with other shown components, although not all connections are shown, for ease of illustration. A device 1200 is a multiprocessor system comprising a first processor 1202 and a second processor 1204 and is illustrated as comprising point-to-point (P-P) interconnects. For example, a point-to-point (P-P) interface 1206 of processor 1202 is coupled to a point-to-point interface 1207 of processor 1204 via a point-to-point interconnection 1205. It is to be understood that any or all point-to-point interconnects illustrated in FIG. 12 can be alternatively implemented as a multi-drop bus, and that any or all buses illustrated in FIG. 12 could be replaced by point-to-point interconnects.

As shown in FIG. 12, processors 1202 and 1204 are multicore processors. Processor 1202 comprises processor cores 1208 and 1209, and processor 1204 comprises processor cores 1210 and 1211. Processors 1208-1211 can execute computer-executable instructions in a manner similar to that discussed below in connection with FIG. 13, or in other manners.

Processors 1202 and 1204 further comprise at least one shared cache memory 1212 and 1214, respectively. The shared caches 1212 and 1214 can store data (e.g., instructions) utilized by one or more components of the processor, such as the processors 1208-1109 and 1210-1111. The shared caches 1212 and 1214 can be part of a memory hierarchy for device 1200. For example, shared cache 1212 can locally store data that is also stored in a memory 1216 to allow for faster access to the data by components of the processor 1202. In some embodiments, shared caches 1212 and 1214 can comprise multiple cache layers, such as level 1 (L1), level 2 (L2), level 3 (L3), level 4 (L4), and/or other caches or cache layers, such as a last level cache (LLC).

Although the device 1200 is shown with two processors, it can comprise any number of processors. Further, a processor can comprise any number of processors. A processor can take various forms such as a central processing unit, a controller, a graphics processor, an accelerator (such as a graphics accelerator or digital signal processor (DSP)) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). A processor in a device can be the same as or different from other processors in the device. In some embodiments, device 1200 can comprise one or more processors that are heterogeneous or asymmetric to a first processor, accelerator, FPGA, or any other processor. There can be a variety of differences between the processing elements in a system in terms of a spectrum of metrics of merit including architectural, microarchitectural, thermal, power consumption characteristics and the like. These differences can effectively manifest themselves as asymmetry and heterogeneity amongst the processors in a system. In some embodiments, processors 1202 and 1204 reside in the same die package.

Processors 1202 and 1204 further comprise memory controller logics (MC) 1220 and 1222. As shown in FIG. 12, MCs 1220 and 1222 control memories 1216 and 1218 coupled to processors 1202 and 1204, respectively. The memories 1216 and 1218 can comprise various types of memories, such as volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random-access memories (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM)) or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, chalcogenide-based phase-change non-volatile memory). While MCs 1220 and 1222 are illustrated as being integrated into processors 1202 and 1204, in alternative embodiments, the MCs can be logic external to a processor, and can comprise one or more layers of a memory hierarchy.

Processors 1202 and 1204 are coupled to an Input/Output (I/O) subsystem 1230 via P-P interconnections 1232 and 1234. Point-to-point interconnection 1232 connects a point-to-point interface 1236 of processor 1202 with a point-to-point interface 1238 of I/O subsystem 1230, and point-to-point interconnection 1234 connects a point-to-point interface 1240 of processor 1204 with a point-to-point interface 1242 of I/O subsystem 1230. Input/Output subsystem 1230 further includes an interface 1250 to couple I/O subsystem 1230 to a graphics engine 1252, which can be a high-performance graphics engine, graphics processing unit, or a graphics card. The I/O subsystem 1230 and graphics engine 1252 are coupled via a link 1254, which could be a bus or a point-to-point interconnection.

Input/Output subsystem 1230 is further coupled to a first bus 1260 via an interface 1262. The first bus 1260 can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI Express bus, another third generation I/O interconnection bus or any other type of bus.

Various I/O devices 1264 can be coupled to the first bus 1260. A bus bridge 1270 can couple first bus 1260 to a second bus 1280. In some embodiments, the second bus 1280 can be a low pin count (LPC) bus. Various devices can be coupled to the second bus 1280 including, for example, a keyboard/mouse 1282, audio I/O devices 1288 and a storage device 1290, such as a hard disk drive, solid-state drive or other storage device for storing computer-executable instructions (code) 1292. The code 1292 can comprise computer-executable instructions for performing technologies described herein. Additional components that can be coupled to the second bus 1280 include communication device(s) 1284, which can provide for communication between the device 1200 and one or more wired or wireless networks 1286 (e.g. Wi-Fi, cellular or satellite networks) via one or more wired or wireless communication links (e.g., wire, cable, Ethernet connection, radio-frequency (RF) channel, infrared channel, Wi-Fi channel) using one or more communication standards (e.g., IEEE 802.11 standard and its supplements).

The device 1200 can comprise removable memory such as flash memory cards (e.g., SD (Secure Digital) cards), memory sticks, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards). The memory in device 1200 (including caches 1212 and 1214, memories 1216 and 1218 and storage device 1290) can store data and/or computer-executable instructions for executing an operating system 1294 and application programs 1296. Example data includes web pages, text messages, images, sound files, video data, or other data sets to be sent to and/or received from one or more network servers or other devices by the device 1200 via one or more wired or wireless networks, or for use by the device 1200. The device 1200 can also have access to external memory (not shown) such as external hard drives or cloud-based storage.

The operating system 1294 can control the allocation and usage of the components illustrated in FIG. 12 and support one or more application programs 1296. The application programs 1296 can include common mobile computing device applications (e.g., email applications, calendars, contact managers, web browsers, messaging applications) as well as other computing applications.

The device 1200 can support various input devices, such as a touch screen, microphone, camera, physical keyboard, proximity sensor and trackball, and one or more output devices, such as a speaker and a display. Other possible input and output devices include piezoelectric and other haptic I/O devices. Any of the input or output devices can be internal to, external to or removably attachable with the device 1200. External input and output devices can communicate with the device 1200 via wired or wireless connections.

In addition, the computing device 1200 can provide one or more natural user interfaces (NUIs). For example, the operating system 1294 or applications 1296 can comprise speech recognition logic as part of a voice user interface that allows a user to operate the device 1200 via voice commands. Further, the device 1200 can comprise input devices and logic that allows a user to interact with the device 1200 via a body, hand or face gestures. For example, a user's hand gestures can be detected and interpreted to provide input to a gaming application.

The device 1200 can further comprise one or more communication components 1284. The components 1284 can comprise wireless communication components coupled to one or more antennas to support communication between the system 1200 and external devices. The wireless communication components can support various wireless communication protocols and technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5G New Radio (5G), Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM). In addition, the wireless modems can support communication with one or more cellular networks for data and voice communications within a single cellular network, between cellular networks, or between the mobile computing device and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The device 1200 can further include at least one input/output port (which can be, for example, a USB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), Ethernet and/or RS-232 port) comprising physical connectors; a power supply; a satellite navigation system receiver, such as a GPS receiver; a gyroscope; an accelerometer; a proximity sensor; and a compass. A GPS receiver can be coupled to a GPS antenna. The device 1200 can further include one or more additional antennas coupled to one or more additional receivers, transmitters and/or transceivers to enable additional functions.

In one embodiment, I/O subsystem 1230 is a PCIe root complex, I/O devices 1264 are PCI endpoints, and I/O subsystem 1230 connects to I/O devices 1264 and bus bridge 1270 via any current version of the PCI expression protocol.

It is to be understood that FIG. 12 illustrates only one exemplary computing device architecture. Computing devices based on alternative architectures can be used to implement technologies described herein. For example, instead of the processors 1202 and 1204, and the graphics engine 1252 being located on discrete integrated circuits, a computing device can comprise a SoC (system-on-a-chip) integrated circuit incorporating multiple processors, a graphics engine and additional components. Further, a computing device can connect elements via bus or point-to-point configurations different from that shown in FIG. 12. Moreover, the illustrated components in FIG. 12 are not required or all-inclusive, as shown components can be removed and other components added in alternative embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary processor core that can execute instructions as part of implementing technologies described herein. The processor 1300 can be a core for any type of processor, such as a microprocessor, an embedded processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) or a network processor. The processor 1300 can be a single-threaded core or a multithreaded core in that it may include more than one hardware thread context (or “logical processor”) per core.

FIG. 13 also illustrates a memory 1310 coupled to the processor 1300. The memory 1310 can be any memory described herein or any other memory known to those of skill in the art. The memory 1310 can store computer-executable instruction 1315 (code) executable by the processor 1300.

The processor comprises front-end logic 1320 that receives instructions from the memory 1310. An instruction can be processed by one or more decoders 1330. The decoder 1330 can generate as its output a micro operation such as a fixed width micro operation in a predefined format, or generate other instructions, microinstructions, or control signals, which reflect the original code instruction. The front-end logic 1320 further comprises register renaming logic 1335 and scheduling logic 1340, which generally allocate resources and queues operations corresponding to converting an instruction for execution.

The processor 1300 further comprises execution logic 1350, which comprises one or more execution units (EUs) 1365-1 through 1365-N. Some processor embodiments can include several execution units dedicated to specific functions or sets of functions. Other embodiments can include only one execution unit or one execution unit that can perform a particular function. The execution logic 1350 performs the operations specified by code instructions. After completion of execution of the operations specified by the code instructions, back-end logic 1370 retires instructions using retirement logic 1375. In some embodiments, the processor 1300 allows out of order execution but requires in-order retirement of instructions. Retirement logic 1370 can take a variety of forms as known to those of skill in the art (e.g., re-order buffers or the like).

The processor 1300 is transformed during execution of instructions, at least in terms of the output generated by the decoder 1330, hardware registers and tables utilized by the register renaming logic 1335, and any registers (not shown) modified by the execution logic 1350. Although not illustrated in FIG. 13, a processor can include other elements on an integrated chip with the processor 1300. For example, a processor may include additional elements such as memory control logic, one or more graphics engines, I/O control logic and/or one or more caches.

Any of the disclosed methods can be implemented as computer-executable instructions or a computer program product. Such instructions can cause a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods. Generally, as used herein, the term “computer” refers to any computing device or system described or mentioned herein, or any other computing device. Thus, the terms “computer-executable instruction” or “machine-executable instruction” refers to instructions that can be executed by any computing device described or mentioned herein, or any other computing device.

The computer-executable instructions or computer program products as well as any data created and used during implementation of the disclosed technologies can be stored on one or more tangible or non-transitory computer-readable storage media, such as optical media discs (e.g., DVDs, CDs), volatile memory components (e.g., DRAM, SRAM), or non-volatile memory components (e.g., flash memory, solid state drives, chalcogenide-based phase-change non-volatile memories). Computer-readable storage media can be contained in computer-readable storage devices such as solid-state drives, USB flash drives, and memory modules. Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing all or a portion of disclosed methods, or by any combination of computer-readable storage media and hardware components.

The computer-executable instructions can be part of, for example, a dedicated software application or a software application that is accessed via a web browser or other software application (such as a remote computing application). Such software can be executed, for example, on a single computing device or in a network environment using one or more network computers. Further, it is to be understood that the disclosed technology is not limited to any specific computer language or program. For instance, the disclosed technologies can be implemented by software written in C++, Java, Perl, JavaScript, Adobe Flash, or any other suitable programming language. Likewise, the disclosed technologies are not limited to any particular computer or type of hardware.

Furthermore, any of the software-based embodiments (comprising, for example, computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods) can be uploaded, downloaded or remotely accessed through suitable communication methods. Such suitable communication methods include, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, cable (including fiber optic cable), magnetic communications, electromagnetic communications (including RF, microwave, and infrared communications), or electronic communications.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present disclosure may be embodied as methods or computer program products. Accordingly, the present disclosure, in addition to being embodied in hardware as earlier described, may take the form of an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”

Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible or non-transitory medium of expression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. FIG. 14 illustrates an example computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that may be suitable for use to store instructions that cause an apparatus, in response to execution of the instructions by the apparatus, to practice selected aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 1402 may include several programming instructions 1404. Programming instructions 1404 may be configured to enable a device, e.g., device 1300, in response to execution of the programming instructions, to perform, e.g., various programming operations associated with operating system functions and/or applications, in particular, operations associated with flit based packetization technology described above with references to FIGS. 1-2.

In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 1404 may be disposed on multiple computer-readable non-transitory storage media 1402 instead. In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 1404 may be disposed on computer-readable transitory storage media 1402, such as, signals. Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. As used herein, “computer-implemented method” may refer to any method executed by one or more processors, a computer system having one or more processors, a mobile device such as a smartphone (which may include one or more processors), a tablet, a laptop computer, a set-top box, a gaming console, and so forth.

Embodiments may be implemented as a computer process, a computing system or as an article of manufacture such as a computer program product of computer readable media. The computer program product may be a computer storage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program instruction for executing a computer process.

The disclosed embodiments may be implemented, in some cases, in a hardware component or device, firmware or software running on a processor, or a combination thereof, or any combination thereof.

As used in this application and in the claims, a list of items joined by the term “and/or” can mean any combination of the listed items. For example, the phrase “A, B and/or C” can mean A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; or A, B and C. As used in this application and in the claims, a list of items joined by the term “at least one of” can mean any combination of the listed terms. For example, the phrase “at least one of A, B or C” can mean A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; or A, B and C.

Although the operations of some of the disclosed methods are described in a particular, sequential order for convenient presentation, it is to be understood that this manner of description encompasses rearrangement, unless a particular ordering is required by specific language set forth herein. For example, operations described sequentially may in some cases be rearranged or performed concurrently. Moreover, for the sake of simplicity, the attached figures may not show the various ways in which the disclosed methods can be used in conjunction with other methods.

As used in any embodiment herein, the term “module” may refer to software, firmware and/or circuitry to perform one or more operations consistent with the present disclosure. Software may be embodied as a software package, code (e.g., routines, programs, objects, components, data structures), instructions, instruction sets and/or data recorded on non-transitory computer readable storage mediums. Firmware may be embodied as code, instructions or instruction sets and/or data that are hard-coded (e.g., nonvolatile) in memory devices.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD), (for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable System on Chip (SoC)), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality.

The term “circuitry” may also refer to processor circuitry or interface circuitry. As used herein, the term “processor circuitry” may refer to, is part of, or includes circuitry to sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations; recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device that can execute or otherwise operate computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. As used herein, the term “interface circuitry” may refer to, is part of, or includes circuitry providing for the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces (for example, buses, input/output (I/O) interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like).

The disclosed methods, apparatuses and systems are not to be construed as limiting in any way. Instead, the present disclosure is directed toward all novel and nonobvious features and aspects of the various disclosed embodiments, alone and in various combinations and subcombinations with one another. The disclosed methods, apparatuses, and systems are not limited to any specific aspect or feature or combination thereof, nor do the disclosed embodiments require that any one or more specific advantages be present or problems be solved.

Theories of operation, scientific principles or other theoretical descriptions presented herein in reference to the apparatuses or methods of this disclosure have been provided for the purposes of better understanding and are not intended to be limiting in scope. The apparatuses and methods in the appended claims are not limited to those apparatuses and methods that function in the manner described by such theories of operation.

The following examples pertain to additional embodiments of technologies disclosed herein.

Example 1 is a device, comprising a processor and a protocol stack to receive information from the processor. The protocol stack generates one or more transaction layer packets based on the information; generates one or more flits comprising the transaction layer packets, each flit is protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme; and transmits the one or more flits across one or more lanes of a link to a receiving device.

Example 2 is the device of Example 1, wherein each flit comprises one or more flit-level CRC codes. The protocol stack transmits the one or more flit-level CRC codes across the one or more lanes.

Example 3 is the device of Example 2, wherein each flit is further protected by a forward error correction (FEC) scheme applied on a per-lane basis.

Example 4 device of Example 3, wherein the FEC scheme is an interleaved scheme.

Example 5 is the device of Example 1, wherein each flit further comprises one or more data link layer packets.

Example 6 is the device of Example 5, wherein each data link layer packet comprises a flit sequence number.

Example 7 is the device of Example 1, wherein the device is a PCIe root complex.

Example 8 is the device of Example 1, wherein the device is a graphics card.

Example 9 is a device comprising a processor and a protocol stack to. The protocol stack receives a flit across one or more lanes of a link from a transmitting device, the flit comprising one or more transaction layer packets and one or more flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes; determines whether the flit has been successfully received by performing a CRC check based at least in part on the transaction layer packets and the flit-level CRC codes; and sends information contained in the transaction layer packets to the processor in response to determining that the flit has been successfully received.

Example 10 is the device of Example 9, wherein the flit further comprises one or more forward error check (FEC) codes received at each lane.

Example 11 is the device of Example 10, the protocol stack further receives a portion of the flit at each lane, wherein to determine whether the flit has been successfully received further comprises performing, for each lane, an FEC check on the portion of the flit received at the lane based at least in part on the FEC codes received at the lane.

Example 12 is the device of Example 11, wherein the CRC check is performed after the FEC check is performed for each lane.

Example 13 is the device of Example 9, wherein the protocol stack is further to: accrue one or more credits in response to determining that the flit has been successfully received; accrue one or more additional credits upon determining that one or more successive flits received from the transmitting device have been successfully received; determine that a pre-determined number of credits have been accrued; and send a credit update to the transmitting device before receiving a pre-determined number of further successive flits after the determining that a pre-determined number of credits have been accrued.

Example 14 is the device of Example 9, wherein the device is a PCIe root complex.

Example 15 is the device of Example 9, wherein the device is a graphics card.

Example 16 is a method comprising receiving information from a processor; generating one or more transaction layer packets based on the information; generating one or more flits comprising the one or more transaction layer packets, each flit protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme; and transmitting the one or more flits across one or more lanes of a link to a receiving device.

Example 17 is the method of Example 16, wherein each flit comprises one or more flit-level CRC codes. The protocol stack further transmits the one or more flit-level CRC codes across the one or more lanes.

Example 18 is the method of Example 17, further comprising protecting each flit with a forward error correction (FEC) scheme applied on a per-lane basis.

Example 19 is the method of Example 18, wherein the FEC scheme is an interleaved scheme.

Example 20 is the method of Example 16, wherein each flit further comprises one or more data link layer packets.

Example 21 is the method of Example 16, wherein each data link layer packet comprises a flit sequence number.

Example 22 is a method comprising receiving a flit across one or more lanes of a link from a transmitting device, the flit comprising one or more transaction layer packets and one or more flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes; determining whether the flit has been successfully received based at least in part on the transaction layer packets and the flit-level CRC codes; and sending information contained in the transaction layer packets to the processor if the flit has been successfully received.

Example 23 is the method of Example 22, wherein the flit further comprises one or more forward error check (FEC) codes received at each of the one or more lanes.

Example 24 is the method of Example 23, wherein a portion of the flit is received at each lane, wherein to determine whether the flit has been successfully received further comprises performing, for each lane, an FEC check on the portion of the flit received at the lane based at least in part on the FEC codes received at the lane.

Example 25 is the method of Example 24, wherein the CRC check is performed after the FEC check is performed for each lane.

Example 26 is the method of Example 22, further comprising accruing one or more credits upon determining that the flit has been successfully received; accruing one or more additional credits upon determining that one or more successive flits received from the transmitting device have been successfully received; determining that a threshold number of credits have been accrued; and sending one or more credit updates to the transmitting device before receiving a pre-determined number of further successive flits after the threshold number of credits have been accrued.

Example 27 is a system comprising a receiving device comprising a receiving device processor; a transmitting device to transmit a flit to the receiving device, the flit comprising one or more transaction layer packets and one or more flit-level CRC codes; and a link connecting the transmitting device to the receiving device, the link comprising one or more lanes. The flit is transmitted across the one or more lanes. The receiving device receives the flit; determines whether the flit has been successively received by performing a CRC check based at least in part on the transaction layer packets and the flit-level CRC codes; and sends information contained in the transaction layer packets to the receiving device processor if the flit has been successively received.

Example 28 is computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for causing a device to perform a method. The method comprises receiving information from a processor; generating one or more transaction layer packets based on the information; generating one or more flits comprising the transaction layer packets, each flit protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme; and transmitting the flits across one or more links of a lane to a receiving device.

Example 29 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 28, wherein each flit comprises one or more flit-level CRC codes, the protocol stack to further transmit flit-level CRC codes across the lanes.

Example 30 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 29, further comprising protecting each flit with a forward error correction (FEC) scheme applied on a per-lane basis.

Example 31 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 30, wherein the FEC scheme is an interleaved scheme.

Example 32 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 31, wherein each flit further comprises one or more data link layer packets.

Example 33 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 32, wherein each data link layer packet comprises a flit sequence number.

Example 34 is one or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for causing a device to perform a method. The method comprises receiving a flit over one or more lanes of a link from a transmitting device, the flit comprising one or more transaction layer packets and one or more flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes; determining whether the flit has been successfully received based at least on the transaction layer packets and the flit-level CRC codes; and sending information contained in the transaction layer packets to the processor if the flit has been successfully received.

Example 35 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 34, wherein the flit further comprises one or more forward error check (FEC) codes received at each of the lanes.

Example 36 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 35, wherein a portion of the flit is received at each lane, wherein to determine whether the flit has been successfully received further comprises performing, for each lane, an FEC check on the portion of the flit received at the lane based at least in part on the FEC codes received at the lane.

Example 37 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 36, wherein the CRC check is performed after the FEC check is performed for each lane.

Example 38 is the one or more computer-readable storage media of Example 34, further comprising accruing one or more credits upon determining that the flit has been successfully received; accruing one or more additional credits upon determining that one or more successive flits received from the transmitting device have been successfully received; determining that a threshold number of credits have been accrued; and sending one or more credit updates to the transmitting device before receiving a pre-determined number of further successive flits after the threshold number of credits have been accrued.

Example 39 is a device comprising a processor; a protocol stack to receive information from the processor; and a generating means to generate one or more flits comprising one or more transaction layer packets, each flit protected by a flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scheme. The protocol stack transmits the flits across one or more lanes across a link to a receiving device.

Example 40 is the device of Example 39, wherein each flit comprises one or more flit-level CRC codes. The protocol stack further transmits the flit-level CRC codes across the lanes.

Example 41 is the device of Example 40, wherein each flit is further protected by a forward error correction (FEC) scheme applied on a per-lane basis.

Example 42 is the device of Example 41, wherein the FEC scheme is an interleaved scheme.

Example 43 is the device of Example 39, wherein each flit further comprises one or more data link layer packets.

Example 44 is the device of Example 43, wherein each data link layer packet comprises a flit sequence number.

Example 45 is a device, comprising a processor; a protocol stack to receive a flit across one or more lanes of a link from a transmitting device, the flit comprising one or more transaction layer packets and one or more flit-level cyclic redundancy check (CRC) codes; and a determining means to determine whether the flit has been successfully received by performing a CRC check based at least in part on the transaction layer packets and the flit-level CRC codes. The protocol stack sends information contained in the transaction layer packets to the processor if the flit has been successfully received.

Example 46 is the device of Example 45, wherein the flit further comprises one or more forward error check (FEC) codes received at each of the one or more lanes.

Example 47 is the device of Example 46, the protocol stack further to receive a portion of the flit at each lane, the device further comprising a checking means to perform, for each lane, an FEC check on the portion of the flit received at the lane based at least in part on the FEC codes received at the lane.

Example 48 is the device of Example 47, wherein the CRC check is to be performed after the FEC check is performed for each lane.

Example 49 is the device of Example 45, wherein the device further comprises an accrual means to accrue one or more credits upon determining that the flit has been successfully received; accrue one or more additional credits upon determining that one or more successive flits received from the transmitting device have been successfully received; determine that a pre-determined number of credits have been accrued; and send one or more credit updates to the transmitting device before receiving a pre-determined number of further successive flits after determining that a pre-determined number of credits have been accrued.

Example 50 is a PCIe endpoint comprising a processor; and a PCIe protocol stack to: receive first information from the processor; generate one or more first transaction layer packets based at least in part on the first information; generate a first flit comprising the first transaction layer packets, one or more flit-level cycling redundancy check (CRC) codes and one or more first forward error correction (FEC) codes; transmit the first flit across one or more lanes of a PCIe link to a receiving device; receive a second flit across the one or more lanes of the PCIe link, the second flit comprising one or more second transaction layer packets, one or more second flit-level CRC codes, and one or more second FEC codes, a portion of the second flit received at each lane; determine whether the second flit has been successfully received, the determining comprising: performing a CRC check on the second flit based at least in part on the second transaction layer packets and the second flit-level CRC codes; and for each lane, performing an FEC check on the portion of the second flit received at the lane based at least in part on the portion of the second flit received at the lane; and send second information contained in the second transaction layer packets to the processor in response to determining that the second flit has been successfully received. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a port to send information across a multilane link; and a protocol stack circuitry to: create transaction layer packets (TLPs); calculate a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code based on the TLPs, the CRC code including 8 bytes; encode the TLP into symbols of a flow control unit (flit); encode eight symbols of the flit with the CRC code after the symbols that include the TLP; and transmit the flit on the multilane link.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, the protocol stack circuitry to: calculate an error correcting code (ECC); and encode symbols of the flit with the ECC after symbols containing the CRC code, wherein the ECC symbols are interleaved in the flit.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, the protocol stack circuitry to: encode the flit with data link layer packets (DLLP), the DLLP encoded into symbols between the symbols with the TLP and the symbols with the CRC code.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the CRC code is to be used to check the TLP and the DLLP for errors.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TLP is a first TLP, the protocol stack circuitry to: create a second TLP; calculate the CRC code based on the first TLP and the second TLP; and encode the second TLP into symbols of the flit.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flit is transmitted without a synchronization header.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, the protocol stack circuitry to: encode a portion of the flit with NULL TLP.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the CRC code is to check the TLP and the NULL TLP in the flit.
 9. A method comprising: creating a transaction layer packet (TLP); calculating a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code based on the TLP, the CRC code including 8 bytes; encoding the TLP into symbols of a flow control unit (flit); encoding eight symbols of the flit with CRC code, each of the eight symbols occurring after the symbols containing the TLP; and sending the flit across the link.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: calculating an error correcting code (ECC); and encoding symbols of the flit with the ECC after symbols containing the CRC code, wherein the ECC symbols are interleaved in the flit.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising encoding the flit with data link layer packets (DLLP), the DLLP encoded into symbols between the symbols with the TLP and the symbols with the CRC code.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the CRC code is to be used to check the TLP and the DLLP for errors.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the TLP is a first TLP, the method comprising: creating a second TLP; calculating the CRC code based on the first TLP and the second TLP; and encoding the second TLP into symbols of the flit.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the flit is transmitted without a synchronization header.
 15. The method of claim 9, further comprising encoding a portion of the flit with NULL TLP.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the CRC code is to check the TLP and the NULL TLP in the flit.
 17. A system comprising: a multilane link connecting a transmitter to a receiver; the transmitter comprising a transmitter-side protocol stack to: create a flow control unit (flit) that includes symbols encoded with transaction layer packets (TLPs) and an 8 byte cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code for the TLPs, wherein the CRC code is encoded in symbols of the flit after symbols of the flit containing the TLPs, and transmit the flit on the multilane link; the receiver comprising a receiver-side protocol stack to: determine whether the flit has been successively received over the link based at least on the CRC.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the flit further includes an ECC interleaved across multiple symbols of the flit after symbols containing the CRC code, and the receiver-side protocol stack to perform forward error correction on the TLPs using the ECC in received flit.
 19. The system of claim 17, the transmitter-side protocol stack to: encode the flit with data link layer packets (DLLP), the DLLP encoded into symbols between the symbols with the TLP and the symbols with the CRC code, the CRC code to check the TLP and the DLLP in the received flit for errors.
 20. The system of claim 17, the CRC code to check the TLP for uncorrectable errors in the flit. 